Why didn’t Benjamin Church ever get invited to poker night with the militias?
Because he always had a deal with the other side.
By Erich Goebel
When prepping for Adepticon 2026, I built many lists for the land tournament – some decent (on paper) and many jank but something kept drawing me back to Church. I even asked Chatgpt to make a list for me and it gave me Church. With days left before the con, I leaned into the dark whispers and built another Church’s Raiders list after my success last year (link).
(Re) Building the Church (Force Overview)
Faction: Church’s Raiders
Commander: Benjamin Church
Points: 200
Theatre: Land
While the first version of the list performed very well last year – I wanted to mix it up. So I dropped two Indian Fighters, upgraded my Braves to Veteran and gave them Thrown Weapons. Inconceivable, I know. Or at the very least, highly suspect—like trusting a plan that definitely won’t require improvisation five minutes in. A very Jack Sparrow approach to list building.
My reasoning for this was to force myself into a more aggressive playstyle vs. how I played last year – which was more of a gunline approach. Here, Veteran Braves, when activated with a Spade, have a 12” charge range (Quick + Move + Charge). With Thrown Weapon rerolls and Ruthless – I was hoping for some big plays that may catch my opponents off guard.
Game 1: Brethren of the Land?
In my first game, I was matched up against Brethren of the Coast and a style of list I hadn’t seen before. He brought Inexperienced Units with Named Fighting Men to guarantee a Command Point and Action Economy. I, however, cannot stand Inexperienced Units and was not afraid of the chaff – as long as I could out maneuver it. With Take and Hold being our first objective, I knew that getting to the center of the board to have an advantageous position was paramount. My opponent deployed his most expensive Unit in the center of his deployment zone, with the bulk of his forces to my right. I matched this, but reached the central cover faster, due to Quick and some risky move actions. This paid off however, as I was able to then focus on consistent fire into his right flank from all 4 of my 6 man Indian Fighter units. Not only was I able to kill several men, but that Weight of Fire piled on the Fatigue, causing his flank to forcibly fall back. At this point, things were less “organized engagement” and more “the line is breaking—hold, you fools.”
When his left and middle flanks finally reached the battle, I was able to focus fire on them as well. This caused him to charge forward with his expensive, Veteran Unit – which managed to cause some damage. However, Tough, Very Inspiring and Ruthless is not something to take lightly and I was able to double charge him back with Benji’s Rangers (who had thrown weapons) and my Braves, who were able to rush across the battlefield to capitalize on the out-of-position enemy with their 12” range. Ultimately, I was able to force a Strike Test and end the game with a differential of two Strike Points, without taking one myself. Notably, the changes to Shoot Saves for being out in the open made a huge difference here for some risky moves, which left me open – but ultimately the dice were on my side.
Game 2: Delayed Tactics
My next game was against the Spaniard, Josh Shivak. Now, Josh and I had just played a casual game the night before where I spammed him with 8x 3man Units of Regulars during a Night Scenario – a glorious game. Ironically, we were assigned to the same table as the night before, which helped with terrain familiarity, though most of the action played out on the right side of the board, rather than the left side of the board, still bloody from the night prior. With the scenario being Wanted Man and me rolling to be the Defender – I had to deploy my force entirely within the center of the board. Josh could deploy ANYWHERE, but decided to deploy his entire force in the right corner….an unexpected play.
This ruse caught my slightly out of sorts, since my force was spread thin across the middle of the board. However, Church’s Quick proved once again fantastic, as I was able to reposition my troops very quickly to meet Josh’s force headon. After a few parting volleys, he slammed into my right flank with two units of lance men (Lanceros?). Luckily dice were not on his side, as my Indian Fighters were able to fight back, despite his use of the Swordsman keyword. Of note, however, is my positioning to take advantage (and gimmick) of Threat Zones. See, if an enemy charges a Unit of yours, but has to enter the 3” Threat Zone of another one of your Units, they must charge both. This allows for some gamification of the rules, allowing you two potential defensive fires, two fights back and the ability to split hits – keeping smaller 6 man units alive. Additionally, if your opponent forces one of your Units to retreat, they cannot pursue as they are stuck engaged with another Unit. This affords you the chance to recover and Charge back in against an enemy who cannot make a defensive attack – a strategy I used against Josh to effectively fight back and eliminate many of his Lancers.
Another comical note of this game was Josh’s ridiculous success in using his commanders keyword “Delay Tactics” which completely shut off Benji’s ability to dole out Command Points for two rounds in a row. This put a massive damper on my action economy…effectively turning Benjamin Church from a commanding officer into a man aggressively gesturing while nothing happens. A real “this is the worst pirate I’ve ever heard of”—“but you have heard of him” situation, as he was the sole source of Command Points for my force. Despite this hilarity, I was able to take the win by a Strike Point and move on to round 3.
Game 3: Why we take Indian Fighters
As I walked to my round 3 game, I was taunted by Jayden King about my new match up – against a potent Native player, Damian Nagel. While this only spurred me forth because Jayden and I have a pleasant history, I knew Damian was a strong player. We had originally met at the Historicon 2023 Land Tournament, where he placed first with a Yamasee Force.
Bringing Natives again, Damian and I deployed out of each other’s shoot ranges and danced around some buildings that built up a Spanish Town Center. My dice were Ruthless this game and I got really lucky with some initial potshots that took out several of his Natives, weakening and even shaking one his forward Units. The kind of lucky where you briefly start to believe this was all part of the plan, rather than a series of fortunate events held together by confidence and questionable decisions. This allowed me to utilize Quick again to reposition my force to corner a Unit of Young Braves that was left behind in his flank. While I took care of them however, Damian surged into my Command Unit that was “holding” the center of my Force. Without covering fire, they were decimated by his Native charge and I had to burn my last Fortune Point to save Benjamin.
At this point, things were looking dire, but I had just eked out a few extra kills over Damian, so I knew that I had the Strike Point advantage. Sadly, it was a tournament game so it became a choice to hide my units to prevent further death and likely win or stay and fight – and likely lose. I chose the former and won the game by a narrow margin. Damian got his revenge in a casual game later that evening against my 3 man Unit British Army list.
Conclusions
With a 3-0 ratio – I was confident I would make it to the podium, which is ever my goal. I knew my Strike Point differential left a lot to be desired, but I had some close games against some great opponents – and those are truly the best games.
My experience in both 2025 and 2026 with Benjamin Church has really emphasized to me that knowing your list and understanding its capabilities – when to stand and fight and when to reposition quickly – is critical when playing at this level. Additionally, having a mess of keywords to aid with this, such as Elusive, Tough, Quick, and Ruthless is priceless.
For my changes to the list, I really enjoyed having a melee threat in the Braves – having them dance around the front waiting for an opening to charge was not something I was used to doing in my typical games and will likely lead to some further changes in strategy in the future…
